This invention relates generally to the field of portable toilets, and more specifically to a changing and toileting station, and method of using wearable absorbent articles therein.
Child toilet training has changed considerably since disposable absorbent articles have become widely used. Parents do not begin potty training until much later, and when they do, older children are often more resistant to using a toilet. Therefore’, the sooner an infant can be introduced to the use of a toilet, or toilet-like device, the likelihood increases that the child will not be as resistant to the potty training process. This situation is very similar to that observed with children that have been consistently placed in carseats starting with the first car ride home from the hospital. These children are less resistant to being placed in car seats when they are two years of age.
To speed up the child's introduction to the toilet and potty training, it may be possible to introduce these items with other staples of the child's development. For example, children are usually exposed to changing tables or stations from the time they come home from the hospital. These changing tables often remain with the child, even after they have been outgrown, as part of the child's room or nursery furniture. The constant exposure to these changing stations may offer an opportunity to provide a gradual introduction to potty training that builds on her comfort level.
In the use of portable toilets, for potty training or other uses, there are many challenges, such as, what to do with the bodily waste and where to clean the portable toilet, and how. There is a need for a safe, clean and efficient way of using portable toilets that is inexpensive and allows for easy cleaning and disposal of waste. Such a method of use may be found with the use of toilets liners, yet to be effective, such toilets must be adaptable for use with widely available liners that are not difficult to come by, specialized or costly to produce.
Accordingly, the invention provides an illustrative toilet apparatus, combination changing and toileting station, and methods of using the same, that overcome the disadvantages of known devices while offering features not present in known devices. Although certain deficiencies in the related art are described in this background discussion and elsewhere, it will be understood that these deficiencies were not necessarily heretofore recognized or known as deficiencies. Furthermore, it will be understood that, to the extent that one or more of the deficiencies described herein may be found in an embodiment of the claimed invention, the presence of such deficiencies does not detract from the novelty or non-obviousness of the invention or remove the embodiment from the scope of the claimed invention.